1. Field of Use
This invention relates generally to hand-held brushes or implements for grooming animals such as horses, cattle or other types of livestock.
2. Description of Prior Art
Large animals, such as horses used for riding and cattle kept for show purposes, need to be regularly groomed to remove loose hair, dandruff, scale and dirt and thereby keep their coat, in good-looking and healthy condition.
Various types of conventional curry-combs and brushes are commercially available for this purpose. Some brushes take the form of a rubber mit having short flexible teeth, and some employ suitably-mounted coiled wire springs as teeth. U.S. Pat. No. 840,328 shows a mit-type horse brush fabricated of molded rubber and having many closely spaced small short tapered teeth.
The aforesaid type of Prior art brushes and currycombs very often have teeth which are too short to penetrate through the animal's fur down to the skin and, therefore, do not do a thorough job of grooming. Furthermore, those brushes with teeth too closely spaced prevent the accumulation of loose hair necessary for the most efficient hair removal. Also, those brushes with stiff and insufficiently flexible teeth can irritate or even injure the animal's skin, whereas those with teeth which are too flexible do not effectively dislodge loose hair, dirt and other debris. Applicant is unaware of the commercial availability of any grooming brush or implement which overcomes the aforesaid disadvantages.